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Add MS 7514
- Record Id:
- 032-003435952
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-003435952
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100073295176.0x000001
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100098479535.0x000002
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 7514
- Title:
-
Treatise on swordmanship, archery and other military skills
[Dhikr al-ʿamal bi-al-sayf] [ذكر العمل بالسيف]
- Scope & Content:
-
Anonymous compendium on military technologies and skills.
The manuscript is defective at the beginning and the author's name is unknown. The assumed title 'On Using the Sword' (ذكر العمل بالسف) is taken from a heading on f. 1r.
The copy was completed on 9 Rabī' I 739/24 September 1338 by an unnamed scribe, based on an exemplar dated 9 Rajab 588/21 July 1192 (see colophon, f. 64v, lines 13-15, transcribed below).
The last folio (f. 65), containing an unrelated text on the early caliphs and imams, is an open bifolio with the same dimensions of the folia of the main text block, bound in at a right angle to the text block with its bottom edge to the volume’s spine. It is written in black ink with rubrications, on European paper with tre lune watermark, 21 lines to the page.
Contents:
- End of the preface (f. 1r);
- Treatise on using the sword (ff. 1r-8v): Introduction with anecdotes regarding the virtues of swords and jihad (ff. 1r-2r), followed by an abridgment of a treatise by Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq al-Kindī (يعقوب ابن اسحاق الكندي, d. ca 873) known as 'On Swords and their Kinds' (في السيوف واجناسها). The majority of this treatise is included, from half way through the introduction (ff. 2r-7r). This is followed by an additional section on the qualities of swords, not by al-Kindī (ff. 7r-8v);
- On the good qualities of the sheath (في الاغماد ظريف, ff. 8v-9v);
- Chapter on the shield (باب التراس, ff. 9v-16v);
- Chapter on archery (باب الرمي, ff. 16v-39v): This lengthy chapter covers topics including the different types of bows, qualities of the arrow, quivers, the bowstring, stunt shooting, archery on the battlefield, attacking and defending fortresses, lookouts and ambushes, shooting from horseback, and shooting multiple arrows at once;
- Chapter on using the mace (باب العمل بالعمود, ff. 39v-40r);
- Chapter on using the javelin (باب العمل بالمزراق, ff. 40r-40v);
- Chapter on using the lasso (باب العمل بالوهق, ff. 40v-41v);
- Chapter on jumping and riding (باب الوثب والركوب, ff. 41v-64v): This chapter covers riding while using weapons and other equipment, horseracing, descriptions of the parade ground, and mounted games.
Begins (f. 1r, line 1): [illegible...] ثم في ذكر الرمى
(f. 1v, lines 1-3): في سعة ولامضيق ولازحام ولا برّ ولا بنحر ولا ريح شديد فقد [...]
يثقل الرمح في الريح ويطيش النشاب فيها ولاغنا لأحد عنه وقد يكون
[...] لكل صنف وبلد من الناس سلاح به يقاتلون واليه ينسبون
Ends (f. 64v, lines 9-13):
فان لم
يتهيأ لك ذلك العجلة والمزاحمة بقربها فلترفع من الارض
ثم تستلبها والفروسية عادة بكثرة الا إدمان عليها نجز
والحمد لله ربّ العالمين وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله اجمعين الطيبين الطاهرين
Colophon (f. 64v, lines 14-16):
وهو آخر الكتاب ووقع الفراغ منه في يوم السبت تاسع شهر
ربيع الأول سنة تسعة وثلاثين وسبعمائة
وتاريخ نسخت الأول في تاسع رجب سنة ثمان وثمانين وخمسمائة كان
- Collection Area:
- Oriental Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
Qatar Foundation Partnership Programme - Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-003435952", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Add MS 7514: Treatise on swordmanship, archery and other military skills[Dhikr al-ʿamal bi-al-sayf] [ذكر العمل بالسيف]" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-003435952
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-003435952
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
- Codex; ff. iii+65+iii
- Digitised Content:
- https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100073295176.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Arabic
- Scripts:
- Arabic
- Start Date:
- 1338
- End Date:
- 1338
- Date Range:
- 9 Rabī' al-Awwal 739
- Calendar:
- Hijri qamari
- Era:
- AH
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Paper (f. 65: European paper)
Dimensions: 258mm x 185mm leaf [ 200mm x 119 mm written]
Foliation: British Museum foliation in pencil
Ruling: Misṭarah; 15 lines per page; vertical spacing 8 lines per 10 cm
Script: Naskh
Ink: Black ink, with rubricated headings
Decoration: None
Binding: British Museum binding of red leather with blind tooled decoration on covers
Condition: Significant water damage, worse towards the beginning of the volume rendering some text illegible on ff.1r, 7v and 9v. A few tears and repairs.
Marginalia: Many marginal additions, corrections and notes are found throughout the text, as well as erasures.
Erasures: f.3v: bottom 7 lines crossed out and erased; f.53r: lines 11-15 of main text scored through and marginal corrections added. Extensive marginal notes are encountered on f.3v, f.15r, f.44r, f.44v and f.45r (trimmed), and f.47r, f.53v and marginal doodles (concentric circles) have been drawn in the margin of f.41v.
Frequent pencil markings in the upper and lower inner corners and margins include Arabic words from the text, and numerals that possibly relate to a rebinding scheme or collation with another manuscript or book.
Seals: Red British Museum stamps on f.1r, f.6r, f.15r, f.28r, f.39r, f.46r, f.54r, f.58r, 64v, 65v.
- Custodial History:
-
Claudius James Rich (كلاديس جيمس رچ, b. 1786-d. 1821), Political Resident in Baghdad (1808-21)
- Source of Acquisition:
-
Purchased from Mary Rich (née Mackintosh), widow of Claudius James Rich (1786-1821), Political Resident in Baghdad (1808-21), 25 March 1825
- Finding Aids:
-
Cureton, William and Charles Rieu, Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum orientalium qui in Museo Britannico asservantur. Pars secunda, codices arabicos amplectens (London: The British Museum, 1846-71), Item 783, p. 351.
- Publications:
-
Translation of al-Kindī's treatise on the natures of swords:
Hoyland, Robert G. and Brian Gilmour, Medieval Islamic Swords and Swordmaking: Kindi's treatise "On swords and their kinds", (Warminster: Gibb Memorial Trust, 2006).
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)